Considering Visual Arts Practices at the Secondary Level: Extending Cross-Curricular Conversations Among Secondary Educators

• Published in: Art education (Reston) Vol. 71; no. 2; pp. 16 - 20
• Main Authors: Scott, Tanya, Twyman, Todd
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reston Routledge 04.03.2018; National Art Education Association; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Agricultural practices; Art education; Collaboration; Crop rotation; Curricula; Education; Environmental education; Environmental impact; Geology; Human-environment relationship; Interdisciplinary aspects; Inventions; Learner Engagement; Learning; Learning Processes; Religious beliefs; Research projects; Sculpture; Secondary education; Secondary school students; Secondary schools; Student Attitudes; Student Development; Students; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching Methods; Undergraduate Study; Visual arts; Visual culture
• ISSN: 0004-3125; 2325-5161
• DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2018.1414533

Some works of art that inform these changes include: pot shards found on an East African shore that provide evidence about "daily life in the distant past" and of early trade routes in the Indian Ocean (MacGregor, 2010, p. 358); works such as the Arch of Titus, the Lachish Reliefs, and the Column of Trajan document the spoils of war through different cultures and offer insight on power structures, religious beliefs, and the transfer of ideas over time; Leonardo da Vinci's sketchbooks, inventions, and anatomical drawings shed light on scientific knowledge of the late Renaissance; while contemporary sculptures created through the Washed Ashore Organization educate the community and beyond about human impact on the environment to cultivate change on a global scale (Artula Institute for Arts and Environmental Education, 2016-2017).In hopes of adding to research on the relationship between AA and arts education, several research projects have been and are being conducted globally on the impact of arts integration in general education courses on student achievement (Anderson, 2015; Bamford, 2009; Dwyer, 2011; President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2015; Stoelinga, Silk, Reddy, & Rahman, 2015).By processing information through different academic lenses and relating content to student learning in the art room, art (and general) educators may be able to: (1) create greater context for student learning and facilitate stronger understanding of their learning and (2) foster connections between student learning in multiple subjects to boost student self-efficacy and desire to learn.While the language arts teacher covers The Grapes of Wrath, the science teacher/s could be discussing crop rotation and soil depletion, and the visual arts instructor/s could cover Dorothea Lange's work and the art movements that developed through the cultural expansion and change occurring during and after this time in American history.